Hanbei Takenaka/Historical Information
Historical Information Personal Information Takenaka Shigeharu was claimed by many to have been a natural genius at war who never hesitated to create a plan. The Bukōyawa adds that he had a graceful yet unmistakable ability for strategy. His skills and intellect were compared to Chén Píng (陳平), a talented politician and strategist for the Qin state. The Taikōki and the Jōzankidan states that he had a weak body and looked like a woman at first glance. Working together with Kuroda Yoshitaka, the two men were said to have been the true masterminds of the land and were unstoppable together. He had a habit of riding worn-down horses, which Hideyoshi later chided him for not befitting his great character. A famous episode associated with Shigeharu is an incident recorded in the Taikōki. In the book, Nobunaga was going to offer Shigeharu service in Mino for his help in stopping Saitō Tatsuoki. However, Shigeharu refused and gave up his belongings to retreat to a life of seclusion. As he lived as a hermit, Hideyoshi was said to have personally visited him three times in order to make him his vassal. The story is modeled on the three visits that Liu Bei did for Zhuge Liang in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Shigeharu represented Zhuge Liang, Hideyoshi acted as Liu Bei, their "Guan Yu" was Hachisuka Masakatsu and their "Zhang Fei" was Maeno Nagayasu. A similar incident surrounding Shigeharu was also said to have taken place during the Battle of Nagashino. However, the Nobunaga Kōki argues that Shigeharu's history and abilities may have been exaggerated over time since there is little actually recorded for him. There are also no records of him being Hideyoshi's vassal in his earlier accounts, and it is possible that he could have been an undecorated martial officer for the Oda family. He had one wife and one child, named Shigekado, to succeed him. His wife was the daughter of Andō Morinari and was formally known as Tokugetsu-In (得月院). Other Names Shigeharu's popular name in fiction is Hanbei and connects with Yoshitaka's nickname, Kanbei. Both names support the idea that neither men's talents were truly complete without the other with Hanbei meaning "half" (半) and Kanbei meaning "official" (官). In fiction, it was Hideyoshi who was the one who made this assessment of his two strategists, giving them these names as an entertaining tribute to his vassals. Historically, it's unclear if he actually called them as such. Some records support the notion, others argue that it was a later distortion of facts during the Edo period. Nevertheless, a name to describe both of these men at once exists, and it is known as Ryōbei (両兵衛) or Nihyoue (二兵衛). Other pseudonyms include Ima Kusunoki (今楠木), Ima Kōmei (今孔明), and "The All-Knowing Hanbei" (知らぬ顔の半兵衛, Shiranu kao no Hanbee), which are all rooted in the idea that Shigeharu was a genius. The latter name became an idiom in Japan, in which the person assumes the state of his intelligence, gaining the ability to read any outcome instantly and without fail. Their intelligence is so great it's as if the person can make their every desire a reality. Life and Death Shigeharu was the second eldest son of Takenaka Shigemoto, a vassal of Saitō Dōsan and later Tatsuoki. His mother was Myōkai Taishi, one of Sugiyama Kyuzaemon's daughters. After his father's death in either 1560 or 1562, Shigeharu inherited the clan and served Saitō Yoshitatsu. He served Tatsuoki after his master's passing. Around this time, Nobunaga was making plans to invade Mino province. Yoshitatsu had prevented his previous offensives, but Tatsuoki's new leadership had convinced Nobunaga to attack. An invasion became more likely when younger soldiers within Mino became disillusioned with Tatsuoki and defected to the Oda clan. As the Oda army marched within Mino, Shigeharu led an ambush on the Oda troops to try to drive them back. He led the Saitō army a second time with his tactics two years later in 1563. However, since his master drowned himself in liquor and ignored the state's affairs, Shigeharu and the Mino Trio began to distance themselves from the land's politics and Tatsuoki. Shigeharu, his younger brother Shigenori, and Andō Morinari accompanied Tatsuoki to Inabayama Castle in February the following year. Armed with 16 other subordinates (17 in the Takenaka Heiki), Shigeharu was able to capture the castle in only one day. While written to have happened in five separate records, modern historians question the feat's validity as there are few details written about the incident. The Nobunaga Kōki and Saitō family records do not record the siege happening, so it